Smith Lab Publishes in Nature Neuroscience

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Spencer Smith, PhD, works at his microscope at the UNC Neuroscience Center

UNC Neuroscience Center scientists have found more clues about what happens in the brains of baby mammals as they try to make visual sense of the world. The study in mice, published January 9th in the journal Nature Neuroscience, is part of an ongoing project in the lab of Spencer Smith, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology, to map the functions of the brain areas that play crucial roles in vision. Proper function of these brain areas is likely critical for vision restoration.

Other authors include UNC graduate student Leah Townsend, PhD, Ikuko Smith, DVM, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and member of the UNC Neuroscience Center, UNC graduate student Ruth Huh, and Hongtu Zhu, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

To read more or Dr. Smith’s interview, click here. To read the article in Nature Neuroscience, click here.

The National Eye Institute, the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Whitehall Foundation funded this work. Spencer Smith is also a member of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities.